After the man spoke the name, everyone in the room except for Jane, Patrick, and Antony looked at the woman who had just been pitied moments before with incredulous eyes.
Queena’s heart suddenly grew cold and her face fell. She never expected that her scarred past, which she had hidden for over a decade, would be exposed in such a situation.
She thought she was finally going to find happiness.
Queena remained silent as memories flooded back to her.
Years ago when Queena’s stepmother left the family, she was left alone without anyone to care for her. The police took her to a welfare home in town where there were many other children like herself.
At first, Queena thought she would make new friends there. After all, leaving that kind of home wasn’t much of a loss. But once they found out about her background, even though they were all unwanted children themselves, no one wanted to play with Queena anymore. They even talked behind her back and some openly bullied and teased her.
Queena remembered one time during class when she opened up her pencil case only to find a fat caterpillar inside it.
“Ahh!” Queena screamed out of fear without thinking twice about it since it was break time and many students were around them watching.
There were looks of confusion, disbelief and ridicule… in short, none of them showed any kindness towards Queena.
A few boys who were seven or eight years old clapped their hands excitedly while laughing at Queena and making faces at her, sticking their tongues out as well; their eyes filled with mockery.
One boy who was taller than the others spoke without hesitation, “Your dad is in prison! He’s a criminal so his daughter should be treated like this! We heard he kidnapped someone so you must not be any good either!”
Most students joined in on this conversation; some just watched from afar finding it amusing or entertaining while others encouraged these boys’ behavior by joining in on their taunts towards Queena.
At first Queena fought back against these bullies, but soon realized that only led to more severe punishment from teachers as well as increased retaliation from those boys themselves.
Over time, instead of getting angry again, Queena learned how to endure everything silently until eventually making an oath that someday she would rise above everyone else, proving herself worthy despite what they may think or say about Queena herself.
Until that day, she was taken to the principal’s office where a man in a suit and tie, dressed very neatly and cleanly, was waiting for her alongside the principal.
“Queena,” the principal smiled at her. “This is Mr. Dillon. He wants to adopt you. He’s an immigrant from Australia. If you go with him, you’ll have a new home. Are you happy about that?”
Queena remained silent for a while and looked at the well-dressed man before asking only one question, “Will it be better than now?”
The man paused for a moment before smiling again and said, “Of course it will be better than now! As long as you come home with me, I promise that your life will be thousands of times better.”
“Okay.”
Without any hesitation, Queena nodded her head because she wanted to leave this place so badly.
Afterward, Queena left the welfare institution with the man who took her to Australia where she met Antony and discovered who her real adopted family was.
Reality.
Jane watched Queena silently without knowing what she was thinking about, but no matter what Queena thought or said could not change their current situation.
She smiled lightly then took out an audio recorder from her pocket and pressed play button, revealing Antony’s voice along with Queena’s voice clearly recorded on it.
At this point in time, Queena finally reacted but Jane had already lifted up her hand first facing everyone saying, “Now we have evidence here including testimony from people who heard everything clearly so everyone knows that she is not really Candy after all. All of those identities were forged! Besides that… you’ve been involved with Antony since earlier on right? And if I’m not mistaken… the person who actually adopted you when you were living in welfare institutions is part of Swift family, isn’t he?”
“What are you talking about?!” At this moment, Queena became furious; even shouting uncontrollably couldn’t help ease off some tension inside of herself anymore especially when everything had been revealed like this.
“It’s not true! None of it is true! You’re making things up!”
“Oh really?” Jane chuckled looking at her amusedly. “If I’m making things up, then why are you getting so worked up over nothing? Or maybe… are you afraid someone else might find out about how BPL leaked Pansy Group’s bid price during North Bay bidding process?”
“You…”
Queena stood still like being nailed down by someone; meanwhile everyone else became quiet as they could hardly digest such big news happening right there in front of them all at once.
“Do you want to know how I found out?” Jane casually threw out a sentence, staring at Queena’s eyes and continued, “If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it yourself.”
“Now everyone knows, right? Queena was sent by Antony to get close to Patrick with the purpose of stealing Pansy Group’s business secrets so that BPL can easily take over the company!”
Although Jane spoke softly, her words were powerful.
Queena’s heart sank suddenly. She had been biting her lips all along as if searching for the right words to explain everything.
“You have no evidence. How can you say that I only approached him for the purpose of stealing secrets? Do you have any proof that I leaked information to BPL?”
Jane took a deep breath and snapped her fingers directly. Then she picked up the remote control and pressed play button. The big screen on stage instantly showed surveillance footage from Patrick’s study room.
Queena turned pale and couldn’t say anything.
“See it now? You went into Patrick’s study room yourself and stole North Bay Amusement Park’s plan book for Antony! If you really are Candy, why would you do such a thing?”
The scene became quiet while discussions below grew louder like an explosion. Some people pointed at Queena with hatred and disdainful looks.
Queena looked stunned at everything happening around her; shaking her head repeatedly but still unable to speak until she finally admitted tearfully, “It was me who did it all… but Patrick… Patrick…”
She raised her head in panic grabbing onto his clothes, “I did it all for you! I wanted us together forever! And… and I didn’t give Antony any information from the plan book either! Please believe me!”